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UN condemns Yemen’s expulsion of UN human rights official Yemen: UN head warns use of cluster bombs could be war crime
(about 20 hours later)
UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations secretary-general is condemning Yemen’s expulsion of the U.N.’s human rights representative and urging the government to reconsider his expulsion. UNITED NATIONS — The U.N. secretary-general expressed deep concern Friday at the “intensification” of airstrikes by the Saudi-led, U.S.-supported coalition in Yemen and warned that the reported use of cluster bombs in populated areas could amount to a war crime.
The U.N. human rights office said earlier this week that it received allegations that Saudi-led coalition forces used cluster bombs in attacks in Yemen. A statement from Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman came a day after the U.N. chief condemned Yemen’s expulsion of the U.N.’s human rights representative in the country. The U.N. human rights office said this week it received allegations that the Saudi-led forces used cluster bombs.
U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Ban Ki-moon stressed Thursday that respect for human rights is essential for long-term peace in Yemen and impeding the U.N.’s human rights work “can only be harmful for the country’s return to peace and stability.” Ban has received “troubling reports” of the use of cluster munitions in attacks Wednesday on several locations in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday.
He spoke after reports from Yemen that the U.N. human rights representative, who was not named, has been declared persona non grata. Dujarric said the secretary-general is particularly concerned about reports of “intense airstrikes in residential areas and on civilian buildings in Sanaa, including the Chamber of Commerce, a wedding hall and a center for the blind.”
Dujarric said the secretary-general stressed that U.N. staff “must never be threatened or sanctioned for doing their work.” “The use of cluster munitions in populated areas may amount to a war crime due to their indiscriminate nature,” Dujarric said, adding that international human rights law and international humanitarian law prohibit attacks directed against civilians and civilian infrastructure.
Yemen’s conflict pits the government, backed by the Saudi-led coalition, against Shiite rebels known as Houthis allied with a former president and backed by Iran. The Houthis took over Sanaa in September 2014, and the Saudi-led coalition began airstrikes against the Houthis in March.
Peace negotiations were launched in December and a cease-fire was declared, but both government forces and rebels ignored it.
The truce formally ended last weekend, just as the Saudis broke diplomatic ties with Iran following attacks by Iranian protesters on its diplomatic missions in response to the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric.
The Saudi-Iran rupture has raised concerns about peace prospects in Yemen, the Arab world’s poorest country, where the U.N. says millions of people are in need of basics like food and fuel.
The U.N. special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is trying to get commitments from both sides for a new cease-fire and talks. He was in the Saudi capital, Riyadh, on Friday and will be going to Yemen soon, Dujarric said.
Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.